Can you cry underwater?

In the main, yes. Divers are sometimes overcome by deep
feelings, whales are prone to blubber and keen ears will often
detect the sobbing of the occasional lost sole. Then there's the
woebegone wobbegong.
Jim Dewar, North Gosford

Is a big question really a big question if it can be
Googled? `Can you cry under water' returned 1,470,000
responses in 0.12 seconds.
Chris Howells, Broadwater

Isn't above water bad enough?
Gary Frances, Bexley

Yes, you can. The stuff still comes out, but it just mixes into
the water. Though you may die if you are crying underwater as when
you cry, well, when I cry, you get all emotional (well, you have to
if you are crying) and breathe heavily a lot and as you can't
breathe underwater (unless you are connected to an airtank), you
die.
Kirsty de la Motte, Kincumber

In the interests of science, I filled the kitchen sink, chopped
some onions, inhaled, got the eyes on the run and dunked my head in
the sink. The sink overflowed. I slipped over and banged my knee. I
was still crying. I have to persuade the rest of the village to
repeat the experiment for statistical validity but it looks like a
yes.
Paul Roberts, Lake Cathi

When did women start wearing high heels and why?

One of the first to wear high heels was the Italian noblewoman
Catherine de Medici (related to the popes of the same name) in the
16th century, presumably to make her taller. A side effect was to
make her buttocks more prominent and desirable.
Tom Ruut, Garran, ACT

So they can crash through the glass ceiling.
Jen Lynch, Camperdown

When women started working outside the home and therefore became
well-healed.
Steve Barrett, Glenbrook

High heels were first noted in a tomb in Egypt from around 1000 BC,
and were possibly a sign of social status. Later, ancient Greek
theatres mounted actors on platform shoes, with differing heights
indicating a character's social status. They soon became associated
with sex. Courtiers from Japan, China, Turkey and Old Rome were all
thus attired, possibly to make escape more difficult. In the 19th
century, the idea was imported to the USA following the popularity
of Paris prostitutes who wore them. The modern European fashion of
the high heel stems from the Italian `chapiney' or `chopine' style
of the 1700s.
John Moir, Mollymook

High heels were developed to assist horsemen in control of the
stirrup, while sources suggest Leonardo da Vinci may have invented
the fashion item, indicating that Catherine de Medici wore high
heels to enhance her height at her wedding.
J. Barrie Brown, Gordon

Laws regulating how high womens heels should be go back to at
least fifteenth century Venice. Catherine de Medici wore chopine
shoes to appear taller. Chopines put the entire shoe over a walking
pedestal. These boots were not for walking.
Paul Roberts, Lake Cathi

Why is a boxing ring square?

In the early days of professional fist fighting, groups of
fighters would travel from town to town challenging the local men.
The fighters would arrange a few of the spectators in a circle and
have them hold a ring of rope. Any man wishing to challenge one of
the boxers would "toss his hat into the ring". As the number of
spectators increased, the hand-held ring no longer sufficed and it
became necessary to fashion an enclosure by attaching ropes to
stakes driven into the ground. Four stakes were normally used,
which produced a square enclosure, but it continued to be called a
boxing ring. David Buley, Seaforth

So the attractive lady with the round numbers can walk out from
the corner at the start of each round.
John Campbell, Cordeaux Heights

In an escalation of disagreement into fisticuffs, observers will
enthusiastically form a ring around the combatants, flexing
elastically with the flow of the action. In 1743, an English
bare-knuckle fighter, Jack Broughton, introduced a set of rules for
contests, among which was a small circle from where the boxers
would start each round. A square ring of 24 feet a side, surrounded
by two ropes, was introduced by the Pugilistic Society in 1838.
J. Barrie Brown, Gordon

We can blame the Pugilistic Society, who developed the London Prize
Ring Rules in 1838 but `ring' had long been used for an enclosure
of any shape. The rules called for a 24 feet square ring, enclosed
by two ropes. Since padded canvas is used, the stretched material
would easily fray and be difficult to secure with posts in a round
one.
Paul Roberts, Lake Cathie

A fighting area in the olden days was roughly round in the dirt,
surrounded by enthusiasts. When the ring became a structure, it was
so much easier to make a square area with only four cornerposts. In
a round area constructed, with many posts, where would one position
the red and blue corner ?
Peter Frylink, Umina Beach

A boxing ring is square to enable `sluggers' to catch up with
opponents who `float like a butterfly' and `sting like a bee.' It
also allows contestants to be introduced as `in the red corner' or
`in the blue corner' whichever, and the Ref to say `back to your
corners,' `come out fighting,' `may the best man win.'
Dean Hartigan, Umina Beach

If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

Extinction of the ancestor is not necessary for the success of
the descendants. One group of a species, subjected to different
selection pressures (such as a dodo isolated on an island), will
evolve along a different path, like the branch of a tree. Rather
than say humans evolved from apes, it is more accurate to say
humans and apes evolved from a common ancestor.
Andrew Rummery, Woolloomooloo

To keep up the crowd numbers at rugby league games.
John Campbell, Cordeaux Heights

For centuries apes have been aware of their ancestors' evolution to
human form, and they have watched humans destroy their forest
habitats. It's not surprising that the current ape population see
evolution as a bad thing and refuse to be involved.
Jim Dewar, North Gosford

Evolution isn't about a newer species or subspecies being better
than another, superseding previous models or having more right to
exist. Think of the guided evolution that humans have carried out
with dogs for specialised characteristics like hunting, sheep
herding, etc. These all descended from wolves, yet wolves still
exist, as do greyhounds, rottweilers, poodles and chihuahuas. The
arrival of the poodle didn't make the rottweilers go extinct.
Species continue to exist for as long as they can.
Walter Di Qual, Annandale

Because not all of the apes died out, just the certain areas
produced mutants (a.k.a. humans) which resulted in the mutants
(a.k.a. humans) taking over and breeding alot.
Kirsty de la Motte, Kincumber

We did not evolve from any apes that exist now but from an extinct
common ancestor. The other apes are chiefly vegetarian while our
species used tools to hunt animals regularly. Making tools and
eating high level protein gave the impetus and fuel to enable our
much larger brains to evolve.
Paul Roberts, Lake Cathie

Actually, people didn't evolve from apes. People and modern apes
both descended from the same species, quite recently. That probably
happened when some members of the species were somehow seperated
from the others. One group evolved into apes, the other, into
humans. But it is possible for one species to evolve from another
without the original species changing. For example, dogs are
believed to have evolved from wolves. But wolves haven't changed
significantly since then. This happened because one group of wolves
was taken by humans, who bred them into dogs (breeding is just like
natural selection, except done by people, so evolution could have
easily had the same effect). The other had no breeding, so they
remained unchanged.
Harry Haggith, Terrigal

Since evolution ain't no step ladder; no one gets left behind. One
tiny twig of the ape bush found upright stance and bigger brained
surrealism more suitable. The remainder of our cousins found they
could get by without that weird kind of innovation. If you survive,
you win. Them's the rules, folks.
Fergus Hancock, Macquarie Hills

Apes, like anything else, survive because they have adapted to
their various environments. That includes the hairless talking
tool-using ape which from any objective viewpoint is just another
chimpanzee. You may think a big brain and bipedal gait some awful
big deal, but if your survival depended on swinging through the
trees, you might think again.
David Mathers, Lidcombe

Evolution doesn't just go in one direction. Darwin's finches had
evolved from one species to fourteen by the time Darwin first saw
them. Proto-chimps evolved into both chimps and humans; sorry,
Vicar, but that's just the way it is.
Matt Dean, Woolgoolga

We humans are one of the surviving great apes, along with
chimpanzees, gorillas and orang utans. Evolutionary scientists
think that we had common ancestors with each of those other great
apes that existed about 6, 7 and 14 million years ago,
respectively. The lesser apes - the gibbons of South-East
Asia - are thought to have shared a common ancestor with the great
apes that existed about 18 million years ago.
John Paterson, Avalon

The question itself is a problem because this is NOT what should be
taught, or even implied, in NSW science classrooms. One of the
cornerstones of Darwin's Theory of Evolution is common descent.
That is, humans did not descend from apes but rather they have a
common ancestor. (It's much like saying that dozens of children
have a common great-grandparent.) In this particular case, the
`ancestor' is a smaller and less intelligent primate living tens of
millions of years ago from which both humans and modern apes have
evolved. The common ancestry of today's humans and chimpanzees is
confirmed by them having 98 per cent of their DNA in common.
Michael Costello, Peakhurst

There are still apes, because the Three Wise Monkeys (apes) and
their followers decided after observing human antics to opt for the
simple life. Which enables them to practice what they preach - Hear
No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil. They should be so
lucky.
Dean Hartigan, Umina Beach

Go to the nearest rugby ground.
Dennis Ryan, Murwillumbah

Because we didn't. It is a common misconception that humans
evolved from apes, whereas we actually both evolved from a common
ancestor, beginning some eight million years ago (hence up to 97
per cent of our DNA is identical to chimpanzees). So it is this
shared common ancestor who has disappeared rather than apes.
Tim Harland, Leichhardt

Why do pepper shakers have three holes and salt shakers only
one and couldn't it be the other way around?

The one-hole salt shaker is an Aussie thing. Overseas it's
generally accepted that the salt shaker has five holes and the
pepper shaker four, probably because pepper was more expensive. My
theory is that, if you're old enough, you'll remember that here we
used to have a little bowl and spoon on the dining table and the
salt was spooned onto the side of the plate. Then, when a shaker
came to be used, the salt was poured onto the plate in similar
fashion, sensibly through one hole. On the other hand, pepper was
always shaken over the food.
John Moir, Mollymook

Since salt and pepper shakers came in pairs, more often than not
identical silver or ceramic, one needed to be able to distinguish
them, and since salt grains are larger than fine ground pepper, the
different size and number help in controlling the flow. Change the
tradition at the risk of the ire of your dinner guests.
J. Barrie Brown, Gordon

So we know exactly in which shaker the pepper is, and which the
salt.
Premila Singh, Strathfield

Because white pepper is fine, light and compact, it needs other
holes so more air will be drawn in to separate the pepper and push
it out when shaken. Salt is heavy and large enough to drop through
unaided, especially as there is enough air separating the crystals.
An extra hole would encourage constant air circulation and damp,
solidified salt.
Paul Roberts, Lake Cathie

If salt shakers had more than one hole you would be a-salted.
Jen Lynch, Camperdown

Who caused months to be divided into seven-day weeks and when
was it generally accepted?

The calendar has been divided in many ways in different cultures
at different times. The most complex one I know of is the
traditional Balinese calendar, which has separate weeks of one day
through to 10 days - all running concurrently and used for
different purposes. The moon cycle (month) has been used by most
cultures because the phases of the moon are clearly visible. One
moon cycle is not divisible into an exact number of days but the
seven-day week (possibly of Babylonian or Jewish origin) may have
been an approximation of the moon cycle into four quarters of seven
days each. For some religions the seven-day week was written into
the Genesis scriptures as a basic unit of time for the creation of
the world. Historically, it was used for religious observances and
trading in Jewish, Christian and Islamic societies. It spread as a
unit of time via conquest and international trade.
Walter Di Qual, Annandale

The seven day week became established in both the West and East
according to different paths. The Hebrew, and therefore Christian,
seven day week corresponds to the creation of earth. Babylonians
and Hindus reached the same conclusion though for differing
religious reasons, and far-Eastern countries followed being
variously influenced by the Babylonians and later by missionaries.
Following 19th century European colonisation and the subsequent
rise of global corporate business, the seven-day week has become a
universal practice.
John Moir, Mollymook

The earth rotating around the sun explains a year and the moon
rotating around the earth explains a month. In the beginning God
caused the months to be divided into seven day weeks - there is no
other explanation.
Michael Calculli, Carlingford

The Roman emperor Constantine reordered the calendar in AD 321,
declaring a week of seven days, with dies Solis, Sunday, the first
day of the week and a day of rest for all except farmers. However,
around 700 BC Babylonian astrologers had assigned the then
recognised seven planet names to seven days, conveniently a quarter
of a lunar month, while seven was a mystical number in many
cultures. The seven day week became more world wide with the spread
of European trade activity, but the Soviet Union only abolished a
five day week in 1940.
J. Barrie Brown, Gordon

The West and China took the idea from the Babylonians, who based
their astronomy on the sun and moon and five visible planets.
Hindus developed the same idea from a holy book, the Ramayana. It
was regularised by the Roman Emperor Constantine in AD 321 for all
religions and fitted well with the creation described in
Genesis.
Paul Roberts, Lake Cathie

We must separate the seven day week from the oddly numbered months.
Seven day spans come from the original source of our Bibles; the
day series of Sumerian myths counted seven days as unlucky, over
5000 years ago. The Bible codified the seven days into the creation
story, with lucky Saturday completing the cycle as the Sabbath.
Other cultures, including Rome, adopted `planet' names for each
day; we continue to speak of Saturn's-day, Sun-day and Moon-day.
The months were twisted in order to insert various Roman emperors
into the series (braggarts!); July and August are the best
remaining. That is why the calendar has never made sense.
Fergus Hancock, Macquarie Hills

The common theory is that the seven day week was established as the
imperial calendar in the late Roman empire. This was most likely
done by correlating the seven day week to the seven (astrological)
`planets, known at the time: Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter,
Venus, and Saturn. The seven day week was then furthered by the
Christian church, if you remember that the first pages of the Bible
explain how God created the world in six days and rested on the
seventh. This seventh day became the Jewish day of rest, the
sabbath, Saturday.
David Buley, Seaforth

Besides old age, what else causes a person to grow grey
hairs?

The caustic in all TV-advertised soap. It kills colour and hair.
If you used non-caustic soap, like me, you would have your natural
colour, and I had my second 35th birthday in February.
John Stanfield, Boolambayte Creek

Why does the nation to the north of Belgium have two names,
Holland and the Netherlands, and why are its citizens said to be
`Dutch'?

`Dutch' is related to `Deutsch', the word which Germans
use to describe their language and nationality. It stems from the
old word `Dietsch,' which describes a Germanic language group whose
speakers lived in the area covered by what is now Germany and the
Netherlands, before those countries actually existed. Somehow in
English usage Dutch became synonimous to the language and people
from the Netherlands. The Netherlands is the official name of the
country, and means `lower countries,' referring to the low level of
the area in relation to the sea level. Hence the dikes. Holland is
a provincy of the Netherlands, nowadays divided into North and
South Holland. It is the area that borders the North Sea. When
ships from Amsterdam sailed all over the world in Holland's Golden
Age (1500s - 1600s), their sailors would identify themselves as
`from Holland'. Thus for a long time the only Dutch people one
would encounter were from Holland, and that stuck.
Andre Quintyn, Blackheath

Any answers?

If humans were to wipe themselves out, where would that leave
religion?
Why don't they prune mature eucalypts for wood chips instead of
felling, wouldn't they grow back faster?
Does an orchestra really need a conductor waving out in front or
could it manage perfectly well alone?
Do Buddhist cats have only nine lives?
Does the International Space Station use metric or imperial
components